Torrington City Council sends five charter revision proposals to ballot

TORRINGTON - City Council voted unanimously Monday night to allow five proposed charter changes to appear on the November ballot.

The changes were recommended by the Charter Revision Commission which was established in August 2011 to examine the charter and propose changes.

After months of deliberation by the commission, voters will have the opportunity to decide whether to shift the authority to remove or suspend without pay or discipline fire and police department officers from the Board of Public Safety to the respective department chiefs; whether to increase the limit for extraordinary expenditures from $100,000 to $235,000; whether to require a public hearing for extraordinary expenditures as set forth, but not exceeding $500,000; whether to allow vacancies on the Board of Education to be filled for the unexpired portion of the term; and whether to make technical changes as needed.

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The shift in authority to discipline fire and police officers was intended to streamline the disciplinary process, allow appeals from the disciplined officer and give chiefs more authority. Currently, the Board of Public Safety oversees discipline of officers, making the fire and police officers uniquely situated among city employees.

This provision was the only one to garner public comment.

"This has been festering for years and I think it's time we take care of this problem," said Charter Revision Commission Vice Chair Victor Muschell, who is also on the labor board.

The change in extraordinary expenditures is intended to account for inflation. The current number - $100,000 - was set in 1982. The money in the account goes toward unexpected costs such as storm clean up. A similar measure was on the ballot in 2008, but did not pass.

"There's a perception we're going to have to beat: that we want to spend more money," said Councilman Gregg Cogswell. "I hope there's an education effort to let people know this is a change to reflect inflation and we're not looking to spend money without approval."

A similar sentiment was behind requiring a public hearing for extraordinary expenditures. Currently, the city is required to put spending that much money before a referendum, but simply requiring a public hearing would allow them to act more quickly in the event of an emergency.

The commission proposed filling Board of Education seats because it is currently the only board in which vacancies are temporarily filled by appointees. The change will be consistent with all the other boards.

Council members also voted to send three ideas back to the Charter Revision Commission for their consideration.

Two of those ideas had already been discussed extensively by the commission, but did not make it into final recommendations: Allowing the town to have a tax collector on the city payroll instead of an independently-contracted tax collector, and extending council member terms from two years to four. The former was sent back to the commission with a vote of 4-2 and the latter with a tie broken by Mayor Ryan Bingham.

Council member Elinor Carbone, who is also the chair of the commission, proposed wording of the charter so that the Board of Finance must submit a budget "on or around" May 15 as opposed to the current "on or before May 15." Carbone said could be difficult when May 15 is on the weekend. The motion passed unanimously.

Should the commission decide to recommend the changes, city council would have to vote on them again sometime before the final fall ballot is set.